Mothers Hearts

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Glato, Linee, and her daughters are walking along the path to the Harpies' nesting grounds. Linee has a covered basket on her arm. They see the Harpy Eagle landing along the ledge some distance away from the Harpies. Linee asks Glato “Did you actually sleep with that Harpy?”

Glato stops and says with a sigh “Is that what I’m going to be known for?”

Linee walks by saying “If you were younger, I might entertain you have one of my daughters’ hands in marriage.” Glato gives her a puzzled look. Linee says “I have overheard from the other farmhands that Harpies are very willing sleep with once they understand how to do it, but can be a challenge with their claws. But only you had the guts to walk up to that one with little to no fear and gave a good reason to want to sleep with her. To me it means you don’t want someone who is too easy, but worth your time. And like I said you were the only one who had the balls to do so.” Glato hears her daughters snickering behind him. Glato smiles and follows Linee for the rest of the path.

 

Two Harpies land to block the group from entering the crevice. The Harpies weren’t present at the deal Linee made with Grandma and don’t understand the townsfolk yet, so Linee can’t explain it to them.

Glato steps forward saying “Let me try something.” He raises his hand high in the air and starts making a circle with it.

Two new Harpies land in front of Glato with smiles on their faces saying roughly in Glato’s tongue “Hunting time!”

Glato says “No, enter” as he motions to the crevice. The Harpies look at the guards, then at Glato again. They speak to the guards and after a moment the guards quickly pull aside to let them in.

Linee looks at Glato. Glato says “that serpent woman that was with the stranger told those Harpies that I hunt for a living. She said I would thank her later, and damn if she wasn’t right. So they know I am like her.” And with that, the group enters.

 

The group stops when they see the Harpies' nesting area for the first time. The Harpies don’t move and watch the group closely. Grandma lands on her rock outcropping but doesn’t move towards the group.  Glato glances over to where the campsite was and can see the remains of the fire pit. He also can see that someone has tried to make a fire in it recently. Linee says to her daughters “Help Glato get a fire started and whatever else he needs, while I help them understand.” Linee walks up to Grandma and pulls out a loaf of bread with meat mixed in it. Grandma sniff it then grabs it and starts eating. The Harpies seem to relax a little. Linee’s daughters try to find firewood among the nest, but many Harpies squawk at the girls as they approach. Then a Harpy sees Glato at the campsite and calls to the others. Soon the Harpies bring wood to them.

Harpies start bringing their kills over once they see the fire going. Glato helps teach one of Linee’s daughters how to prepare the meat while the others help with the line of Harpies.

Linee sits near Grandma to watch over everyone. She then notices a thin Harpy hunched over her nest. Linee then hears a baby’s cry and the Harpy looks in on her nest. The Harpy brings the baby up to her breast to feed, but Linee knows that the Harpy is so thin that she has stopped producing milk. Linee gets up with her basket and slowly walks over to the Harpy.

The Harpy tries climbing with the baby in her wings but looks too weak to climb. Other Harpies help her up. Linee stands near the nest and pulls out another burn holding towards the Harpy. The baby starts crying again. The thin Harpy slowly comes down and sniffs the burn. She looks over at Grandma, who is still working on her bun, and decides to risk it.

The thin Harpy sets the baby back in the nest and grabs the bun. She turns away from Linee to start eating. She couches over the nest quickly while keeping an eye on Linee. The Harpy hears her baby crying, so she chews some of the bun up and then feeds it to her baby. The baby softly gums the soft bread then swallows. It then cries for more which the mother gladly gives.

Linee can see the mother Harpy is having a hard time eating and is probably thirsty. So she pulls out her water skin and a bowl. She pours some water in the bowl then offers it to the Harpy in one hand while holding her other hand out.

The Harpy looks at the bowl. She then puts the bread in Linee’s open hand and takes the bowl with her wings. She drinks the water down quickly but gives the last mouthful to her baby. The Harpy hands the bowl back and takes the bread again. But she doesn’t turn away.

 

Grandma and the Elder Mother have been watching the two interact the whole time. They are both grateful that New Mother accepted food from Linee and the chick was able to eat it too. New Mother didn’t build up the fat reserves before laying and even with the other Harpies helping her by bringing food to her. She still lost too much weight. Grandma also knows that only recently have the Harpies had food to spare. Elder Mother was willing to try nursing the baby, but she stopped soon after she had weaned her chick and had gone hunting for it.

 

The Young Harpy comes running up to Linee’s daughters and tries climbing on their clothes. The girls are surprised by this but they realize it’s a young Harpy and can’t really fly yet. One of them gets grabs a fur off Glato’s glowing pile of them and starts waving near the young Harpy to see if it stop trying to climb on them. The young Harpy tries attacking the fur. Another girl quickly gets a fur, a handkerchief, and some string. She warps the fur around the handkerchief and ties the string to it. She starts dragging it along the ground. The young Harpy tries to get it.

 

Elder Mother was about to call her chick off when she sees what the strangers are doing. She just sits there and watches because she can see her chick trying to grab the fur like she is hunting it. The Elder Mother has been starting to teach her chick how to hunt and the strangers are doing it for her.

 

Linee notices the baby has stopped eating but is still fussy, she knows what’s wrong. Linee sees the Mother is still standing over the baby. Linee reaches slowly reaches for the baby Harpy.

The Mother quickly lowers down and covers the baby with her body while giving Linee a threatening look.

Linee pulls her hands back and just smiles at the Harpy. She then points to her womb, then motions to her daughters. She then puts a hand over her heart.

The mother Harpy relaxes after seeing this and looks at the others. She then pulls back to let Linee have access to her baby.

Linee gently reaches in and picks the fussy baby up. She gently places it on her shoulder and pats its back. She can feel the soft feathers covering the baby. She puts the baby back once it burbs.

 

Linee looks at her daughters playing with the young Harpy and sees other Harpies joining in. She looks at Grandma and can tell that she is happy to see things are going well.

Please read the main story.

Human Myth: Vol 1

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